Just as Jeremy Johnson sat patiently for two years behind Nick Marshall, so too must Sean White, who is serving as the backup while Johnson takes the reins at quarterback and hopes to deliver on the promise he showed as an underclassmen.

But White is not resting on his laurels. White's been splitting first-team reps with Johnson thus far in spring practice with the goal of being more comfortable in the offense should he need to step in.

"He did get some reps in the fall being the No. 3 guy, so he has a good understanding of the base offense," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "It's a matter of getting the quality of reps. He didn't get the reps that a No. 2 guy would get and so he's starting to learn and we're rotating a lot of guys – in our quarterback's defense, we're rotating a lot of guys up front, at the receiver position, the running back position – it's a little bit of a challenge the first part of spring to make everything right around him.

"He's in a good position; he's battling Jeremy hard right now."

Johnson may not officially be named the starter until the fall, though the job is his to lose. White, Tyler Queen and Jason Smith are seeing time and Johnson is making no assumptions.

"All of them make the same throws I can make," Johnson said, "and some more athletic than me."

White threw for 2,679 yards with 30 touchdowns as senior at University School in Boca Raton, Florida.

MVP of both the prestigious Elite 11 camp and the Under Armour All-American game coming out of high school, White brings a similar skillset to Johnson to Auburn's passing game.

"He can really throw the football," Malzahn said. "He's very accurate. He's got a strong arm. He understand trajectory and just knows where to put the ball and made some impressive throws. I think that for the most part he's done a good job executing the offense."

With Auburn's offense expected to be more passing oriented this season, White offers a capable alternative while sticking within the system, compared to when Johnson would go in for Marshall and the zone read would become almost nonexistent, especially with the quarterback keeping the ball.

"They can both really throw the football, so if it was either one of those guys, I don't know how much the offense would really differ," offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said of Johnson and White. "But once we kind of get closer to the end of spring and end of summer, we'll try to identify that a little more."

Wide receiver Marcus Davis competed against White, who has not been available for interviews, while at neighboring American Heritage High School in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Davis says White's precision is nothing new.

"He's always been a very accurate passer," Davis said. "He's a great guy. He's a winner. He just wants to be great on and off the field."